A Light Shining in Darkness
by ExplainableChaos
Summary: The courier is well known for helping people wherever possible in the Mohave. But what about the people who eventually get left behind? Slight Yuri.


Right then, so I made this Fallout fic to take a break from my Pokémon fics. My friend told me some big problems with it when I first put it up so I changed them and reposted it. Anyway here is the product of a random idea whilst playing Fallout New Vegas at two o'clock in the afternoon. Features slight yuri. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Ashley and Kate, but not who Kate is a varient of (which is the main character of Fallout New Vegas for those who do not know), now recently I read from the nominomican because I was bored and gained 17 shadow gunman so if you have a problem go see them.

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><p>My name is Ashley, though most people have nicknamed me Ash. The reason? I like energy weapons I guess but with the Silver Rush with their outrageous prices I haven't been able to get one for about 4 months now so I'm currently sticking to small arms. I'm around 5 ft 7" and weigh around 119 pounds surprising considering I barely ever have anything to eat. My hair is black and is sort of flat and short, running to around the back of my neck. The hair dresser told me he calls it "The Unsettler", I didn't care what it was called. Someone once told me I looked beautiful with my hair short so I kept it that way.<p>

I used to live in Nipton but I was on my way to Primm because I heard they had finally gotten law when I saw smoke rising from across the desert. The legion was attacking; I made it to Primm and tried to ask the locals there for help. Not even the new sheriff, a man named Meyes would help so I returned to find some idiot from the Powder Gangers shouting he 'won the lottery' and the entire town in flames. I mourned for no one; after all it was a shithole. I just lived here because it was easier to live here then most places.

I made my way to my house on the far left side of town where I had my laser rifle and an old 9 iron but as I got there a Legionary Recruit stopped me and before I knew what happened me stabbed something into my neck and I passed out.

Well here I am anyway; apparently we are taking refuge here before heading east to the river to get to what they called "The Fort". There was only me left right now, they had one or two Powder Gangers but one had been shot in the head for trying to take one of the recruits Cowboy Repeaters and shooting him in the head with it and the others were crucified along the road because of backchat to the commander of the group. They attempted to keep me docile by injecting me with Med-X every couple of hours since it has the after effect of brief tiredness. It was a pain killer after all.

"Alright slave, time for your 'medicine'." A recruit laughed as he came up to me with the needle ready, I was always scared of drugs and needles. I shuddered slightly as he grabbed my chin and forced my head up to look at him as he forced the point into my arm.

"A slave implies someone who will never be able to escape from their shackles." For that I earned a slap to the face, he leant in slowly and I could smell cheap post war whiskey on his breath.

"But a slave also implies you do whatever your master wants. And I'm going to pay good money for you." He laughed again and I could feel his hands brush against my breasts as he said it, as his hands reached downwards he was pulled away by his commander.

"Recruit what are you doing? It is your turn to keep watch on the road. And we have to keep an eye on the one who killed Vulpes Inculta."

"Hic-Are you serious? Some-hic-one killed the Vulpes?"

"Yes, I was told it was a female with considerable combat experience. That was last week and we haven't been able to get to the fort due to this sandstorm." He motioned towards the east where a large sandstorm was currently blocking the way; I could distinctively see shapes of Giant Ants and Radscorpians fighting over territory.

"Right-hic, I'll take watch."

"Stay low on the booze recruit. I am a lot kinder than Caesar or the Legate, if they catch you drinking you are dead." The recruit nodded and drew his Cowboy Repeater, he also had a Machete and a well conditioned Hunting Rifle with scope and silencer that he took from some poor guy back at Nipton. The commander finally noticed me and turned his nose upwards.

"You dogs are all the same, especially the females. Your only purpose will be to breed soldiers; I don't even think you will be able to carry 100 pounds of equipment." This was true; I travelled extremely light, with only three or four boxes of food and a couple of stims. I usually kept my laser rifle on me but lately because it was badly conditioned so I started carrying a 9mm pistol. Though it was confiscated when I was knocked out after what I believed to be was a strip search after the recruits 'description' though they didn't do anything to me until they get to "The Fort" otherwise it would count as "spoiled goods".

I was cut off my trail of thoughts by a strangled gargle from one of the Legionaries in the tent under the small ledge we were on. The commander rushed to the edge to see what was wrong and the recruit trained his rifle on the walkway up. The recruit then shouted in surprise as a figure leapt up from the cliff beneath him and grabbed his gun pulling it up in the air, before the recruit could do anything however a knee hit him directly in the stomach and sent him to the ground winded. The figure then grabbed the machete from his belt and deflected the hit from the Commander who tried to sneak up on who I guessed to be female, with the steadily fading sunlight it was hard to tell.

"You! You killed Vulpes Inculta!" The fear was evident in his voice. The figure just chuckled slightly and nodded before stomping on his foot and a sickening crunch reverberated around the ledge before she drove the machete upwards through the bottom of his chin. Two more legionaries ran up the walkway and the woman pulled out a beautifully engraved 9mm pistol and took them both out with two headshots without what seemed to be a conscious thought. She then turned the gun on me and fired, I closed my eyes waiting for the pain before I realised she had shot the ropes binding my hands together.

I quickly scrambled to my feet but instantly felt dizzy because of the drugs I was recently pumped full of. The woman smiled at me and threw another pistol at me, one I didn't recognise. It was a silver barrel and the handle had a brown grip at the sides. An engraving down the barrel on the right read "_κα__ὶ__ τ__ὸ__ φ__ῶ__ς __ἐ__ν τ__ῇ__ σκοτί__ᾳ__ φαίνει_" and on the left it read "_κα__ὶ__ἡ__ σκοτία α__ὐ__τ__ὸ__ ο__ὐ__ κατέλαβεν"_ I quickly looked down the sight and hit one of the guards trying to sneak up behind this mysterious woman before they went over to the campfire and sat down beside me.

"Are you the only slave here?" I nodded, she sighed.

"Seems too much security for one slave, though I can see why they didn't want to let you go. You look hot." I blushed; I rarely got comments from other girls about my appearance. I took a second to survey this new character.

She was around 5ft 8" but I couldn't estimate a weight because of the rucksack she was carrying with a rifle barrel sticking out. She had a young yet battle hardened face with deep blue eyes and dark brown hair in a similar style to mind except hers was longer and a little more ruffled, she wore reinforced Leather Armour and a pair of Sunglasses. The scope in the distance glinting from the sun suggested she was not alone either.

"There were two or three Powder Gangers with me but they were either shot or crucified on the way here." I explained. I started feeling slightly dizzy and almost fell forward if she hadn't caught me around the waist before I ended up in the fire.

"What were they giving you? Judging by your combat skills I imagine they kept you docile with some sort of drug." She motioned towards the dead body of the Legionary I shot; the bullet had gone clean through the side of his head, just above the ear. I nodded; this woman seems to have plenty of experience with medicine.

"Med-X" I replied, my voice was barely a whisper but she managed to hear me. She quickly rummaged through her bag before bringing out several bottles of a greenish liquid. She then held her hand in the air and beckoned forward an invisible person.

"This is Fixer. They gave you so much Med-X you became addicted, this should hold back your withdrawal until we get you to New Vegas." I thankfully took the bottle and drank down the liquid. It burned my throat slightly but I could feel my dizziness go away.

"You're lucky; I was just coming back from a job in Zion when the NCR radioed me about intelligence on where some captured slaves from Nipton were, though I am surprised there is only you. But I figured the Legion wouldn't carry too many slaves in NCR territory." A man appeared on the ledge beside the woman seemingly out of nowhere. I recognised him from somewhere but I couldn't think where.

"Take a seat Boone; there are no other Legionaries now." I shivered slightly as the cold air of the Mohave night travelled across my skin; the woman looked through her pack again before bringing out medium armour with a trench coat.

"Here, go put this on. It will keep you warm." The armour looked very similar to NCR combat Ranger Armour but had no badges or medals of any kind, nor any mention of NCR. As I put on the trench coat I could feel the chill of the Mohave reduced slightly. I walked back up to the fire and found the woman examining the pistol she had threw to me earlier, the man named Boone was crouched at the edge, surveying the area with his rifle. The woman then turned to me.

"Looks better on you then it does me love. You should keep it." I nodded and sat back now next to the now smouldering fire.

"Also my name is Katherine, Kate for short. I was a courier but got shot whilst on a job." She parted her fringe slightly to show a small scar above her right eye.

"But I survived somehow and I managed to track down the one who shot me and took him out." She then pulled out the engraved 9mm pistol from earlier.

"She has been forgiven for her crimes though. Anyway Pipboy says your name is Ashley, nice to meet you." She held out her hand and I took it hesitantly before she held out the gun from earlier.

"I'd like you to have this, It's called 'A light shining in darkness'. I think it suits you; it belonged to a friend of mine who I helped in Zion a few days ago. It is a .45 auto pistol. Very good at short to medium range. That armour you have as well, the desert ranger armour is also from Zion, please take care of it." She stood up and made her way towards the legion tents, she then turned back to me.

"Come on; let's get some rest before we set out for New Vegas tomorrow. Boone, can you keep watch?" The man nodded and continued surveying the area with his rifle. The tents were quite small but we managed to find the Commander's tent with two bed rolls and lay down on them. I was extremely fatigued and fell asleep immediately.

OoOoOoOoOo

I was shook awake suddenly by Kate.

"What? What's the matter Kate?" She shook her head slightly and went to sit on her own bedroll.

"You were having a drug induced nightmare it seemed. The fixer wore off while you were asleep; luckily it is morning so we can get moving. I nodded and went to grab my pack before I realised everything was taken away from me.

"Here, use my spare pack. It isn't large and doesn't hold much but it will do." I checked it; it seemed large enough to hold my Mercenary outfit and the Fixer I got yesterday, though I would have to search the dead Legionaries to get my stuff back.

Kate waited patiently as I gathered my lost supplies from the dead legionaries, I also picked up a Machete, a few throwing knives and a stick of long fused dynamite as well as a couple of antivenoms and bottles of Purified Water.

"You ready to go?" I heard Kate say behind me. I nodded but I heard a small groan from up on the ledge. Boone had been getting an hour of sleep before we left so I drew 'A light shining in darkness' from my belt and cautiously walked up the pathway.

The recruit from yesterday had regained consciousness and was injecting himself with a stimpack. As he noticed me he quickly scrambled to his feet and pointed the scoped hunting rifle directly at my head.

"Drop the gun, slave." I dropped the gun carefully so that it did not discharge. The recruit smirked as I glanced down the ledge and saw Kate to busy checking her weapons to notice anything.

"Good, now you are going to come with me and I will-hic take you to The Fort, then I may get a promotion from catching you. I may even become-hic Vexallarius." He grinned openly as he said this before I noticed the hunting rifle slide at the top was open meaning it had no ammo, I looked around and noticed a Throwing spear by the dead commander a few feet away; I also noticed he had a pistol at his side in easy reach. I carefully took a step towards the commander.

"Stop bitch." He cried out, as I took another step I heard a click and dropped into a roll as he threw the rifle to the ground and pulled out his 9mm pistol. I grabbed the throwing spear, took aim and threw it will all my might.

Time seemed to slow down as the spear flew through the air the recruit screamed and shot twice with his 9mm pistol but was wide by about a metre to my left. The spear hit him directly in the balls; he screamed in pain as the throwing spear got halfway in and stopped. He tried to shoot again and this time managed to catch the skin of my arm before stumbling backwards with the force and fell off the edge of the cliff, instead of the sound of stones as he hit the ground I could hear a high pitched screaming. I ran to the edge and saw that the recruit had landed on a Radscorpians, the tip of the spear had pierced its head in the impact and its sting had pierced the recruit's neck. He was dead. Though not in a painless way. I turned and saw Kate running towards me.

"Are you ok?" she asked as she saw the recruit at the bottom of the cliff.

"Ouch, I'm guessing the spear was you?" I nodded and she smiled.

"Good shot, he deserved it after the way he was touching you yesterday." She walked over to the .45 auto I had dropped and handed it back to me before she noticed the puzzled look on my face.

"I did survey the area before I made my move. The moment I saw the guy touching you like that I instantly told Boone to give me cover and I came to help. I hate Legionaries where they think woman can be violated for their purposes." I nodded; I saw the rifle on the ground that was dropped by the Legionary recruit. I picked it up and noticed it was in good condition, albeit a little scratched and the barrel needed cleaning.

"It is a fine weapon, you should keep it. Here use these." She handed me three boxes of .32 ammo with 30 bullets in each and a weapon repair kit.

"Boone still needs another hour to recover so you should make sure you have everything from these saps and make sure to service your weapons and reload them too." I nodded and sat by the remains of the fire and pulled out the weapon repair kit. Inside was a pair of tweezers, a small pole, a square of sandpaper and a small cloth. I grabbed the rifle and smoothed down the scratches with the sandpaper before taking the rod and cloth and tying the cloth to the rod I cleaned the excess dirt from inside the barrel before taking a bullet and slotting it in the slide at the top, closing it and pulling back the lever and pushing it so it lay flat against the side of the gun. I then took aim at a lazy Ant in the distance and fired before ejecting the bullet, inserting another, pulling the slide back and pushing it down. The process took a second or so, I was quite impressed with the time.

The .45 auto, 'A light shining in darkness' was perfect. Kate kept it in amazing condition and so I felt I had to as well. I already knew its strength in combat. I stood up and started looking at the bodies again and in the packs around the camp to see if there was anything extra I wanted. The rifle was now holstered on my back held by a small ring on the pack Kate had given me. After an hour I had found a few bits of food I would need and the man named Boone had awoken from his sleep. We were ready to go, but first Kate pulled me to the side.

"Listen, do you have any sort of special skills at all. Something you work well with?" I shook my head and looked down slightly. She smiled.

"Ok that's fine. I was just wondering, of course if Boone heard he wouldn't think you would be much use is all. But I'm always happy with more company and you can handle yourself well with a gun and a repair kit it seems." I nodded.

"In Nipton, people used to bring me their weapons to look at and try to repair but I was never any good at it because they never had any spare parts of caps I needed to buy the repair kits. The general store always did have horrible prices." Kate nodded and walked towards Boone.

"Time to hit the road. We will first head back to Nipton then continue through to Novac before finally heading up to New Vegas. If you had any family in Nipton I'm afraid to say they are all dead." I nodded but Boone groaned, I was guessing he either didn't like the idea of travelling with me or travelling on that route.

"Will we be staying long in Novac?" He asked. His voice had a dangerous air around it; I felt I wanted to be away from this man.

"Just long enough for Ashley to get medical help for her addiction." He shot me a disapproving look.

"Relax Boone, It wasn't her fault. You saw what shit they were injecting her with." He nodded but still disapproved of me being here.

The journey to Nipton didn't take as long as I thought since the Legion had to go around the NCR checkpoints, as we entered the town I gasped as I saw the amount of destruction in the small town.

"You Ok?" Kate looked at me concerned. I nodded.

"There was a member of the NCR I knew who said this place was always asking to be burnt." I said with a slight laugh.

"But not by Legion. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy." She nodded and continued. I then asked the question that had been playing on my mind for a while now.

"Did you search the houses here?" Kate nodded.

"Did you find a laser rifle and 9 iron in any of the houses?" She shook her head.

"Legion scouts had already been in the houses and took most of the stuff. I found a few random magazines and a locked safe with a Grenade Rifle in it, stupid Barkradscorpians." I hung my head slightly before I felt Kate's hand on my back.

"C'mon the longer we stay here, the harder it will be to leave." I agreed and followed behind Kate; Boone stayed back and watched the rear.

Nothing eventful happened until we got to a small canyon which I knew had a ranger station at the end. A group of legionaries appeared at the top of one of the cliffs and called down to us.

"Katherine, Caesar wants your head. Say goodbye!" The assassins then jumped down from the cliff and slid down the rocks. Kate was incredibly fast however and had drawn 'Maria' as she called it, crouched took aim and took down two of the assassins already, pushing me behind her with her free hand before I felt an arm around my neck. An assassin had managed to get behind me and grabbed me around the neck. He was holding me in such an angle that neither Kate nor Boone could get him, not that they noticed since they were taking out the others. Boone was the first to notice what had happened however, whipping his rifle around and trying to get a shot at the man's head. He then called to Kate who had managed to get the leader in the head; she turned and also tried to get a shot at him.

I felt my head getting light and a slight dizziness as the withdrawal symptoms of the Med-X returned. The man was smirking and I could smell a distinct smell of blood in his breath.

"Move and this blade slices through her neck like a gecko steak, got it?" Kate nodded and lowered her gun slightly. Boone did the same.

"Good, now I'm going to shoot you both in the head and then I'm going to take back this Nipton slave. Understand?" I had enough. I quickly elbowed the man in the stomach and ducked under the Machete he had at my neck, I then quickly drew the stick of dynamite from the Legionaries the day before and scraped the fuse against the ground creating a spark that lit it. I then shoved it into a small compartment of the man's armour and punched it as hard as I could so that the metal twisted around the dynamite, making it impossible to retrieve. Then with the rest of my strength I dived away from the assassin as the dynamite exploded. The assorted body parts flying everywhere.

"Well done." This comment had not come from Kate but instead from Boone as he helped me up.

"Ashley is your hand ok? Did he catch your neck with the blade?" Kate was now inspecting my hand with had a small bruise appearing at the knuckles.

"I'm fine." I looked through my pack quickly and took out a Fixer and a stimpack. I gulped down the Fixer and put the stimpack to my neck and pushed the button, a small blast of compacted air forcing the medicine through the pores of my skin and into my bloodstream, I winced slightly but immediately felt better.

"Don't worry about me, let's get to Novac." Kate and Boone nodded and we continued towards Novac.

OoOoOoOoOo

"Jeez, an addiction. You wasteland types use painkillers now to get high?" I really hated this doctor. I let Kate explain what happened with the legionaries as Boone looked towards the giant dinosaur nervously.

"If there is something over there you need to do Boone I won't stop you." Kate said to the sniper he shook his head but still looked towards the dinosaur, I noticed a barrel sticking out of the mouth of the giant statue and guessed it was Boone's friend. Then I remember where I saw Boone. He used to be the night sniper here when I visited about a month back.

"There done, you decide to get high again don't come running to me." I turned around and punched the wasteland doctor square in the face, her bodyguards didn't do anything except apologise for her behaviour and took her home.

"Fucking bitch." I muttered. The other two just seemed amused by my temper.

"So what now?" I asked hoping to forget my last actions. Kate pointed towards the hotel.

"I have a room there we can stay." Boone looked at her is disbelief.

"Erm, Kate. I shot the owner remember?" Kate smiled.

"Not before I got a room Boone." I smirked slightly at Kate's logic; she seemed to think things through quite well. Though I did not want to be on the opposite end of the battlefield to her.

The room was on the second floor and was quite spacious. Although it only had one queen sized bed. There were a few tables and drawers lining the walls but they weren't of particular note.

"I still have my room downstairs; I'll leave you two to this room then shall I?" And without waiting for an answer Boone left the room leaving me and Kate alone.

"So Ashley, what are you going to do when you get to New Vegas?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, I was thinking of becoming part of the NCR but with the battle of Hoover Dam quickly approaching I don't want to get involved. Kate put her head down slightly and said in a slight whisper

"Sometimes you have to fight whether you like it or not." I nodded and lay down on the bed. I had discarded the coat and the metal parts of the armour but still slept in the leather. It felt safer than nothing. Kate then lay down next to me and I looked at her in surprise.

"Boone left because there is only one bed, seems we have to share. It's a good thing it is big enough." She smiled a playful grin as she rolled over, her back to me and I fell into a somewhat comfortable sleep.

OoOoOoOoOo

"Well, we made it. The New Vegas strip!" Kate exclaimed as we walked through Freeside. We were stopped every so often by a guy with gelled up hair who gave us random stuff from Stimpacks to Turpentine. Turned out Kate was well known around here. She leaned in close to my ear and whispered.

"I had it said that I defended Freeside from a group of Deathclaws in the sewer." I chuckled lightly as we reached the gate to the strip I was stop by a bulky robot balanced on one wheel and had a soldiers face in its screen.

"**Submit to security check."** It said, I had no idea what it meant before Kate drew out a bag of caps and gave it to the robot.

"**Thank you. Enjoy your time on the strip [scanning...] Ashley." **I followed Kate and Boone through the gates and onto one of the most amazing views I had ever seen.

There was tarmac in the road with actual pavements from before the war. A row of steps to the left led up to a massive tower that I had seen many times from across the Mohave. A smaller building was opposite with a neon sign of a woman and underneath was the word "Gomorrah" on fire, strippers danced outside. If I had three guesses on the casino's secondary function I would have got it first try. Past the wall that split to strip I could see a large building which I guessed to be the Ultra Luxe from the radio and further I could see a neon sign saying Vault 21 hotel and gift shop.

"Anyway Ashley here is where I leave you I'm afraid. If you ever need me, I'm usually in the Lucky 38 over there. Go in and talk to the robot by the elevator and ask for the presidential suite ok?" I nodded. I felt sad at this point, I had gotten to know Kate quite well over the past few days. It seemed a waste for it to all end now.

"Hey." She said grabbing my hands then pulling out a radio with NCR engraved at the side.

"The next time I use this and ask for a ranger I want it to be you ok?" I sobbed silently and nodded before Kate leaned in a kissed me; it was a sweet kiss, full of love and promises. She broke the kiss and winked as she walked towards the Lucky 38. I looked in my hand and found two pieces of paper. The first was a map from here to Camp McCarran and the second was a recommendation for me to the NCR written by Kate.

I smiled as she disappeared into the tower.

OoOoOoOoOo

Gunshots whizzed past Kate's head as she did the only thing she could think of at that point and pulled out the NCR radio and shouted into it.

"Anyone come in, I'm in a fire fight and in desperate need of a ranger."

"Roger that, ranger on its way!" Several seconds later the attacking mercenaries started dropping one by one due to bullet wounds to the head from an unknown location, Boone who was always at his boss's side caught sight of the sniper on top of a nearby cliff. The sniper then moved as its location was made known and ran towards them. A pistol was drawn and the ranger was hitting every enemy without fail until the ranger finally reached them.

"There you go Katherine, targets dealt with." The ranger said. a slight metallic tone in its voice due to the helmet but it was definitely female. Before the ranger could make her way back to base Kate grabbed her arm holding the pistol. The rangers armour was slightly different, very well conditioned but was not marked by the NCR.

"Thank you, I knew you would be the one to come next time I used this." A smile lit up Katherine's face as the ranger handed her the .45 Auto she was carrying.

"This is yours I believe. Good Luck at Hoover Dam." She turned and walked away, knowing she could not become emotionally involved in her work, she was protecting Hoover dam in a few days herself after all. Kate looked down at the gun; a small engraving went across the length of both sides of the barrel.

_And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not._

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><p>So anyway I realise this fic is not really all that much about Ashley. I put Ashley in as a POV in order to show a more caring side to the courier, funnily enough when I made a female courier I had in fact called her Ashley, Kate was a random name I came up with. Well not technically true but I'm not getting into it right now.<p>

Also in case people didn't know the stimpacks shown in this fic are NOT the stimpacks in fallout since they are injected, instead I went for a more... Futuristic style to the stimpacks after all Fallout New Vegas is set in the 2200s. Also I realise the battles here suck, but this was done in three hours because I was bored and figured someone would appreciate it. If you have any problems with this fic and want to flame the fuck out of it be my guest just please do not send your hateful comments in the review, send a PM. As always have a nice day/night.

You guys can review now if you want.

TomA62975 has Signed out._  
><em>


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